Grinding, milling, or the like machine for producing parts of complex shape, more particularly the blades of axial compressors or turbines



Filed March '1, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet I Oct. 24, 1950 F. w. WHITEHEAD ETAL 2,527,285

, GRINDING, MILLING, OR THE LIKE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PARTS OF COMPLEX SHAPE, MORE PARTICULARLY THE BLADES OF AXIAL COMPRESSORS OR TURBINES f V a V m/mwzs;

memzmzmmn Q R dmwlimma K WWW 47/7 Oct. 24, 1950 WHITEHEAD ETAL 2,527,285

GRINDING, MILLI OR THE LIKE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PARTS OF COMPLEX SHAPE, MORE PARTICULARLY THE BLADES 0F AXIAL COMPRESSORS 0R TURBINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 1, 1948 1950 F. w. WHITEHEAD ETAL 2,527, 85

GRINDING, MILLING, OR THE LIKE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PARTS OF COMPLEX SHAPE, MORE PARTICULARLY THE.

BLADES 0F AXIAL COMPRESSORS on TURBINES Filed March 1, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 mzumawrwm Oct. 24, 1950 F. w. WHITEHEAD ETAL 2,527,285

GRINDING, MILLING, OR THE LIKE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PARTS OF COMPLEX SHAPE, MORE PARTICULARLY THE BLADES 0F AXIAL COMPRESSORS 0R TURBINES Filed March 1, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Myra 70,95

W W/l/TEHEW? Oct. 24, 1950 F. w. WHITEHEAD ETAL 2,527,285 GRlNDING, MILLING, OR THE LIKE MACHINE FOR PRODUCING PARTS OF COMPLEX SHAPE, MORE PARTICULARLY THE BLADES 0F AXIAL COMPRESSORS 0R TURBINES Filed March '1, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 mmms wow am {WM ala/0w Patented Oct. 24, 1950 2,527,285

GRINDKNG, MILLING, OR THE LIKE MA- CHINE FOR PRODUCING PARTS OF COMPLEX SHAFE, MORE PARTICU- LARLY THE BLADES OF AXIAL COM----' 1 HRESSORS OR TURBINES Frederick William Whitehead and William has Bedford; Bristol, England, assignors to The Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited, Bristol,

England, a British company Application March 1, 1948, Serial No. 12,346

In Great Britain March 18, 1947 3 Claims. 1 v This invention concerns milling, grinding or thelike machines and has for its object to provide a simple machine for producing part of complex shape.

Another objector the invention is to provide a machine for producing the blades of axial compressors or of turbines from a solid bar or rod by milling, grinding or the like operation. This feature-is of particular advantage since the bar 2 oscillatingthe ;work'- piece about said other axis and 'for reciprocating the work-holder and tool relatively to each other.

Preferably the means for oscillating and reciprocating the work holder comprises a cam car- 'jriedfor rotation with the holder one on each side of'the holder, and a follower for each cam carried by the bed-oi the machine.

A practical embodiment of the invention will stock may be readily and cheaply produced either now be describedjfmerely by way of example, as

, by cold drawing or by forging so that in either applied to a machine for cutting the convex case it has great strength: the blade will then faces of coincident-line blades of the rotors of also have this characteristic. Such a characgas turbines.

teristic is particularly sought for when the blade The description will be made with reference to forms part of a gas turbine rotor which issubthe p y g d w gs whereof: jected both to very high temperatures and speeds Figure 1 is a front elevation of a coincidentl of rotation. i line blade for the rotor'of a gas turbine,

According to one aspect of the present inven- Figure '2 is a'view in the direction of the artion a machine for producing convexsurfaces of row 2 of Figure land to an enlarged s complex shape by milling, grinding or the like Figure 3 is a viewshowing the general arrangehwith a rotary tool having a peripheral cutting ment of the machine,

lf b comprises a bed, a tool-head mounted on Figure 4 is a view in the direction of arrow 4 oi the bed, means for driving the: rotary tool, a Figure'5, Certain o the p s being shown in sec- ,worke-head carrying a work-piece holder. for 131011, v

movement tangentially across the cutting face igure 5 is a'view'in the direction of arrow 5 of f t e tool, a f ame to support the holder for gure'3, this vi w b inet an la ed scale and oscillation to incline the work-piece relatively to ShOWihg Certain of'the p s n ection, and the cylindrical cutting face, a slide to support i ur s 6, '7 and 8 ar respe tiv ly se tions on the frame for reciprocation to carry the workthe lines and of Figure piece towards and away from the cutting face, a ef i g, first of all, to Figures 1 and 2 of the pairof mechanismsffor converting rotary to slida s: e blade, Whose convex surface is to ing motion said mechanisms lying one on each e ma n d, i g n l indicated y the feside-ofthe work-piece and means for driving the erehce numeral [B4 blade p s s a rk homer tQgether t said' m h root portion H by which it is attached to the Yin isms, the latter acting each on said slide to os- 555 rotor'ofthe turbine and Vane portion fo ed m t and/Q1: reciprocate it integrally therewith. The projected width at The machine is particularly adapted for lnill- (F ure 1) of the vane I2 is constan t r u grinding h i or imilar-1y machining out its length so that the long axis b of the vane incidentline-b1ades as hereinafter defined. s e w e entry d 13 ofthe According to another. aspect of the present in- 40 and its exit edge The G On One vention a milling, grinding, honing or the like ide of the vane I2 is concave throughout its hi f producing or finishing t convex length whilst the surface l6 on the other side surface of coincident-line blades comprises a e S XQ T Curvature of the conbed, a r -h n t le d Carried by t cave and convex surfaces l5 and I6 respectively bed, a work-holder mounted on the work-head at any station alon h blade (that is, at any for angular movement-about two axes normal to plane normal the axis 17) is not constant s it each other, one axis being selected so that the asurface Tel/011117193 profile Of e coincident lines of the blade are always parallel on v e n surfaces and I6 r specto it, a cylindrical-faced rotary tool carried by Lively Varies r m the root It to the t p W f the tool-head and having a face width'at least h h Va 'S w stedaround the 7 equal to the length of the blade said tool being i idh O the oot to the tip-that mounted to engage the blade-along a c in id t is, a'line containing the entryand exit edges of 1 line; means for driving the tool, means for mov- V the vaneiat a station near the root (as line '0, Figing the workpiece about the axis parallel with ure 2) is incline'dllwith respect to another simithe coincident lines and a common means for la'rly disposedlline (as the linec' at the tip 11 of the vane) at another station along the line. The vane thickness at the root of'the blade is greater than at the tip so that the curved surfaces taper towards the tip of the blade. This will be evident from Figure 2. The concave and convex surfaces extend linearly along the vane so that straight lines lie on said surfaces. These straight lineswhich are referred to throughout the specification as coincident linesf'-are each disposed at an angle to the long axis of the vane. Referring to Figure 1: the lines d are such coincident lines and these, as is clear from the drawing, are inclined with respect to the long axis 1) and converge towards the blade root. A straight edge placed on the line d, or on a line parallel with the line d, will be in contactwlth the surface of the vane throughout its length. The inclination of the lines (1 with respect to axis 19 varies but the lines do not cross one another on the surface l6. For convenience throughout. the specification blades having coincident lines will be referred to as coincident-line blades.

The machine which is about to be described is adapted to machine the convex surface [6 of the blade ID. The concave surface I5 is cut in another machine subsequent to the convex surface being completed in the present machine.

a The blade I is produced from a blank constituted by a bar of cold-drawn alloy suitable for use in a gas turbine rotor, the bar being rectangular in cross-section. The strength of such a, bar

is great and, as the blade is produced from it, the

blade also has great strength.

Referring to Figure 3 the machine, which is .generally indicated by the reference numeral 20 comprises a bed 2|, a work-head, generally indicated by the reference numeral 22, mounted on the bed and a tool-head. generally indicated by ,the reference numeral 23 also mounted on the bed 2|. The tool-head 23 is adjustable by handle .24 along the slide 25 on the bed 2| so as to move the tool-head towards and away from the workhead 22. Such movements are provided for so as to bring the tool into contact with the cold-drawn bar and, if necessary, for infeed purposes.

The tool-head 23 comprises a slide 26, a gear box 21 carried by the slide, an electric motor 28 than the length of the vane l2. In this way, as

will be described hereinafter, the length of the vane which is machined is greater than that required and the excess material is removed from the tip I! of the blade.

The work-holder 22 comprises a frame 3| which is carried by the bed 2| and which in turn supports a slide 32 (see Figure The slide 32 is 7 so mounted on the frame 3| that it is capable of being reciprocated towards, and away from, the tool-head 23. The slide 32 and the tool-head 23 are therefore independently capable of relative movement towards and away from each other.

The slide 32 supports a platform 33 so that when the slide is reciprocated the platform moves with it. On each side of the platform 33 there is provided a pulley 54 to which one end of a rope 55.,is secured. The ropes pass over the bed 2| and jockey pulleys 56. The free end of each rope supports a weight 51 which, applying a pull on the 4 platform 33 through the ropes 55, draws the slide 32 away from the tool-head 23.

As shown in Figure 5, the platform 33 supports a pair of bearing blocks 34 which are spaced apart so as to accommodate therebetween a workholder, generally indicated by the reference numeral 35. Each bearing block receives a shaft 36 by which the work-holder 35 is supported and driven, as hereinafter described.

The platform 33 carries a pin 31 which is received by a bearing bush 38 secured to the slide 32. The arrangement is that the pin 31, with the platform 33, -may rotate about a vertical axis .within the bush 38.

The platform 33 is therefore capable of two movements. The first is that of reciprocation towards and away from the tool-head due to the fact that the platform is mounted on the slide 32. The second movement is that of oscillation about a vertical axis due to the fact that the platform 33 is mounted on the slide 32 through the agency of the pin 31 and bush 38. Of course, the bearing blocks 34 will also partake of these movements and it will be clearthat they maybe independently performed or that they may be both performed at the same time.

Each shaft 36 is formed with a projection 39 having a slot 40 to receive a tongue 4| on the work-holder 35. Each tongue 4| is held in position in its slot 40 by a pin 42.

Also carried by each shaft 36 is a cam 43 which co-operates with a follower 44 (Figure 4) carried by a bracket 45 which is bolted to the frame 3| of the work-head. The cams 43 are held in engagement with the followers 44 by means of the pulley and rope devices 54, 55 described above.

The pulley 54, on the right hand side of Figures 3, 4 and 5, is formed with teeth 46 which are adapted to co-operate with similarly formed teeth on a shaft 41,. The teeth on the pulley 54 and on the shaft 41 constitute a dog clutch which is engaged when the shaft 41 is moved towards the pulley. Disengagement is effected by movement of shaft 41 in the opposite direction. The shaft 41 is moved to engage and disengage the clutch by a hand lever 48 which is pivotally mounted at 49, the lever 48 passing through a rod 50 which is bolted or otherwise secured to the shaft 41. The shaft 41 is splined as at 5| to carry a worm wheel 52 which is driven by a worm 53.

From what has been said it will be clear that the drive from the worm wheel 52 will be applied to the shaft 41 and that, if the clutch 46 is engaged, this drive will be transmitted to the shaft 36 and the cam 43 on the right hand side of Figure 5. When the work-holder 35 is mounted in position, as described above, this drive will be transmitted from the right hand shaft 36- to the left hand shaft 36 and so to the left hand cam 43.

Referring now to Figure 3 the worm wheel 52 is driven through the worm 53 from a shaft 58. The shaft 58 extends from the worm 53 to a gear box assembly indicated at 59. Power is applied to the gear box either from an electric motor 60 or by a hand wheel 62. The gear box 59 has a hand lever 63 whereb either the hand wheel 62 or the motor 60 is coupled to the shaft 58 through gear box 59 at the will of the operator. The hand wheel is normally used when the machine isbeing set up ready for the cutting operation. The work-holder is normally driven by the motor 60 during the cutting operation and it is arranged that the cutting operation takes under a minute in the particular arrangement being described.

The shaft -58 is madein two co-axial parts which are joined together by a' sleeve '64, the sleeve being splined on the two-parts of- 'the shaft so as to transmit the drive from the one part to the other. This arrangement is provided to 'en- 3;

rier 61 centrally formed with a stepped, transverse slot generally indicated at 65. The blade carrier 61 is formed with the tongue 4! above referred to. The lower part ofthe stepped slot" is flat and forms a table to receive a saddle 66 (Figure 4). The saddle-66 is secured to the blade carrier 61 by the bolts 68. A portion of the stepped part of the slot 65 lies on each side of the saddle 66 and each such part carries a finger 69. The adjacent ends of the fingers 69. overhan the-saddle 66. The workpiece 10, whose convex surface is to be machined, is placed-upon the saddle 6E and each end f it is gripped byv one of the fingers 69 sothat the workpiece is firmly held on the saddle. The fingers 69 are clamped in position by means of the screws H.

Inthe description of the blade given above it was stated that the thickness of'theblade decreases over the length. To allow for this the saddle 66 has a tapering face to receive the work- ;piece Ill.

The distance between :the adjacent ends of the fingers 59 is such as to accommodate the grinding wheel 29.

The machine will normally be adapted for grinding the convex surface of bladesof different lengths. It is preferred that, for each length of blade, there be provided arespe'ctive workholder. However, all of the work-holdersv are of the same construction in so far as the tongues 4! are concerned so that they are interchangeable in the machine. This interchangeability is readily performed since it only requires that the pins 42 be withdrawn and the work-holder :slid out;

of pieces 39.

To enable the required shape to bev imparted to the work-piece without the grinding disc interfering with the work-holder it is arranged the saddle 63 be of relatively small arcuate extent as shown .in Figures 7 and 8. The saddle 56 at each end is of channel section but in the operative region it is suitably cutaway "as; is clear from Figures 7 and 8.

work-piece l and it will be observed from these two figures that this channelformation is partly retained over the length of the saddle.

To ensure that the maximum support'forthel;

In use, the work-piece 10-in the form of a length of cold-drawn rectangular bar-is inserted in the work-holder 35 after the latter is mounted between the pieces 39 and after cams 43 are se- The channel for-.1. "mation of the saddle 66 effectively supports the curedto the shaft '36, these cams 43 having-the required profile to produce the blade in question.

With the work-piece clear of the grinding discmoved around the horizontal axis about which the shafts 36 rotate t carry it past the grinding wheel 29 whilst in engagement therewith. It

may be found sufiicient for the work-holder-to be thus moved past the grinding wheel 29 once only to complete the machining operation. Alternatively this may be done several times, in which case, at the end of each such cutting operation the tool-head 23 is advanced for infeed purposes.

During the oscillation of the work-holder 35 to form the convex surface of the blade the cams 43--which rotate as one with the work-pieceare in engagement with their followers 44. With the arrangements described rotation of .the cams may result in the slide 32 being reciprocated and/or the platform 33 being oscillated relatively tothe slide 32. Thus, if the cams have the same lift at the same time the platform 33 tion. It will be apparent that by suitably designing the cams it is possible to arrange for the platform to reciprocate and/or oscillate and therefore to move the work-piece relatively tothe grinding wheel 29 so that a desired shape is imparted to the convex surface.

The'work-piece is mounted in the work holder so that the wheel 29 engages the work-piece along a coincident line and successive lines are brought parallel with the axis of rotation of the wheel. To provide a surface with inclined coincident lines the cams 43 tilt the platform 35 "so that the axis of shafts 36 is inclined with respect to the axis of wheel 29. The convex surface of the workpiece will therefore be of conic 'form:so that the coincident lines lying on the surface converge towards the root of the'bl'ade. Of course, if necessary the cams may be designed to vary theinclination of the axes of shafts 36 and wheel 29 as the workpiece is carried across the wheel to take account of changes in the conic form over the width of the blade-- which means that the convergence of the coincident lines at different parts of the blade will vary;

The workpiece is supported on the saddle 66 so that it is inclined with respect to the cutting face of the wheel 29 whereby the convex surface which is produced will have a desired inclination and the thickness of the vane at the root will be greater than at the tip.

As indicated, the movements of the workpiece, as it is rocked past the grinding wheel, are such that the complex shape of the convex surface described above is produced in a single machining operation. Of course, if desired, a grinding operation may be followed by a honing operation in a similar machine.

When the convex surface has been produced after both the convex and concave surfaces the convex surface.

" the workpiece is removed from the machine and subsequently further machined so as to form the root of the blade and the concave surface. The

excess material at the tip of the vane is removed have been formed so that the vane is the required length.

Whilst in the machine described the tool was in the form of a grinding wheel it is to be understood that it may be a milling cutter.

' The machine described forms the convex suraface I6 of the blade I!) with straight coincident lines (1 which are inclined the one to the other.

These lines are straight in the sense that, at

:any section through the blade in a plane containing the line of contact of the blade with the grinding wheel and the axis of rotation of the wheel, the convex surface is straight. This is 'due to the grinding wheel being cylindrical. However, the coincident lines may be curved in this sense and to this end it is suificient that ;the' periphery of the grinding wheel be convex and/or concave. Alternatively the lines may be -part straight, part curved.

With the arrangement described in connection with the drawings the coincident lines were inclined, but not so as to cross one another on However, the coincident lines may be parallel either when straight or when curved. To this end the cams 43 are designed so that the axes of shafts 36 and of wheel 29 are parallel.

Whether the coincident lines be straight or curved and inclined or parallel it is necessary "that there be a gradual transition in shape 5: 5 across the blade to ensure that with the machine described the coincident lines may conveniently be brought successively into contact with the grinding wheel.

-' From the foregoing it will be appreciated that a; machine as described is adapted to form a convex surface on a workpiece, the surface having coincident lines with the following propertie:

(a) They are straight and/or gradually curved m5 (concave or convex).

(b) They do not cross one another on the surface, and

(c) They are parallel or inclined to one another. {:50

A convex surface with lines having these properties is a coincident-line surface and a piece having such a surface is a coincident-line piece .ducing' a convex surface on coincident-line pressors or the like, comprising a bed, a workhead and a tool-head carried by the bed, a workholder mounted on the work-head for angular movement about a first and second axis normal to each other, the first axis being selected so that the coincident lines of the blade are always parallel to it and to the axis of rotation of the tool, a cylindrical-faced rotary tool carried by the tool-head and having a face width at least equal to the length of the blade, said tool being mounted to engage the blade along a coincident line, means for driving the tool, means for turning the work-piece about its axis which is parallel with the coincident lines and a cam one on each side of the work-piece, for oscillating the work-piece about said second axis and for re- 'clar'npcomprises a-tongue-and-groove connection and means for holding the two elements of the connection together.

' 3. A machine according to claim 2 wherein the cam and follower are maintained in engagement by" means comprising a pulley carried by each cam haft, a rope secured to the pulley and a weight on the rope acting'to draw the cam against its follower and to rotate the holder in one direction.

FREDERICK WILLIAM WI-IITEHIEAD.

WILLIAM HENRY BEDFORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS (for example, a coincident line blade). Number Na 6 D Although in the preferred arrangement the, 5 431259 g Aug g g ggz blade is produced from a solid bar it is to be 1085381 Di Giant-1i 1914 understood that hollow stock may be used for 2373327 Hauord "-7 A r 1945 making hollow blades. The machine may also n .be used for finish-machining part-fabricated 'FOREIGN PATENTS blades e. g. forged blades. vNumber Country t a Finally, the machine may be used for pro- 491, 79

Great Britain 'Sept. '7, 1938 

